Shade Gardens can be as bright and colorful as a sunny garden even with 5 or less hours of direct sunlight. For many people the frustration results from not planting the right plants in the right location. Another common misconception is that shade gardens don’t have color or flowers, not true. With a little creativity a shady garden can be as colorful as a sunny garden, starting with the right plants. But before you can plant get to know your yard.

Take a look around your outdoor space. Become aware of where the sun rises and sets. See how the sun plays upon certain areas of the garden at different times of the day. You may find areas that are shaded but have dappled sunlight in the morning or indirect light in the late afternoon. This can make the difference between plants that need partial sun to full shade. If you have bare spots under trees where grass no longer thrives consider adding a perennial border, they are easy to grow and require little maintenance.

The next step is to assess the condition of the soil. I recommend testing your soil to determine whether it is acid or alkaline. You can purchase an at home testing kit or send a sample off to your local government extension office to get an in-depth analysis of your soil. Knowing what nutrients your soil needs is a big part of how successful plants will grow in a specific area. Soil in shaded areas can tell two different stories. It can be extremely dry, especially underneath mature trees and too moist in locations where drainage is poor. Adding compost helps to condition and break down soil and improve drainage.

A shade garden is a great way to experiment with colors, tones and textures. When designing the garden keep colors light, avoid plants with dark foliage, bright colors like lime green, and variegated leaves can brighten up dark areas. Dark foliage plants are usually offset by white flowers and work when planted against bright green foliage or flowering Astilbe.

Pink Astilbe ‘Rhineland’ offsets dark purple foliage

Hosta is one of the most popular shade plants and for good reason. It looks best when planted in full shade. It’s stalks of fragrant lavender or white trumpet flowers are the perfect accent to the large heart shaped leaves. Planting Hosta in the sun does not capture its beauty. Leaves become burned and color looses intensity. When Choosing Hosta go for large leaf varieties like Sum and Substance. It’s large display of lime green leaves is show stopper. Colors range from blue and lime greens as well as variegated. Perennial varieties of Heuchera, offer a wide range colors to add depth and texture, with their scalloped and ruffled leaves. Fern varieties are great texture and Astible can provide both flowering color and texture.

Hydrangea arborescens, ‘Annabelle’,Hygrangea quercifolia, ‘Oakleaf ‘ provide big white blooms and thrive in full shade. These are some of the plants and shrubs for shade, just to name a few. I suggest you do your research before you head out to the garden center to buy plants. Other design tips to consider are planting flowering perennials that bloom in succession. You want to have a colorful blooming garden from spring to fall.

‘Annabelle Hydrangeas

Remember it’s your garden in the shade, follow your inner designer and don’t forget to add a bench or garden to seat so you can stop, sit and admire your hard work.

Fall is a season of new beginnings, the days are shorter and the temperatures cooler. The landscape becomes bursting with rich colors of burgundy red, gold, purple and yellow. Hardy mums are front and center of the fall garden along with pumpkins and gourds. Whether you grow them as seasonal annuals or perennials that come back in the garden every year mums give your landscape a pop of color from September to November. If you find them to be a bit fussy and a challenge look no further we have the answers.

Mums are an easy to grow low-maintenance plant that grows equally well in garden beds and mixed containers. They are drought resistant and relatively pest free. Planting mums in the garden is a great way to add late season color to your landscape. They continually bloom for weeks at a time and prefer at least 6 hours of direct sunlight per day. Preparing the soil for mums requires adding quality compost to the existing garden beds. Improving the condition of heavy dense soil improves growing conditions for the plants. Mums prefer well-drained soil.

Watering mums can be a challenge. The most common problem is overwatering. As mentioned above garden Mums are drought tolerant. Overwatering can lead to leaves wilting, which can be mistaken for being too dry. This is common problem for those who have outdoor irrigation in place. If this has happened to you take a hands off approach, meaning ‘back off’ of regularly or daily watering. As the daylight decreases and nights turn cooler plants are not drying out as quickly as they do in a garden during the summer months. If you are growing Mums in containers allow the soil to dry thoroughly. Physically checking the soil daily with your hand is helpful. If the pot or container feels light in weight and the soil feels dry then proceed with watering. Avoid the mums drying and wilting. Letting them go too dry too long will diminish the blooms and color.

Fertilize mums in mixed container gardens using Jack’s Classic blossom booster 10-30-20 or All -Purpose 20-20-20. Plants in the garden should be planted using Espoma Bio-Tone Starter Fertilizer the first year. Then fertilize monthly the second year of growth from May to August.

Hardy mums can tolerate the frosty cool nights in the fall and can easily be overwintered for the next season. The key to successfully overwintering mums is to plant early. Planting in early fall allows the plants to become established before winter. Once a hard frost occurs stems and leaves will turn black. Cut plant back leaving an inch to one and a half inches above the ground and cover with mulch. Garden Mums can grow naturally to heights of 12-48 inches. To keep plants compact and encourage more branching pinch back plant tips twice during the summer months. First pinching occurs in June. When plant has grown 6-8 inches pinch tops off each branch about 2 inches. Pinch again in July, 2 inches off each branch from the new growth. This will strengthen plants and encourage blooming.

Falls rich display of colorful garden mums are unmistakable and a welcome sight after a long hot summer.

You may think it is too late to plant flowers to attract butterflies to your garden, but not true.

Adding flowers in the garden now will bring butterflies to your garden for many seasons to come. Late summer and fall is the perfect time to add plants to your garden. Plants have plenty of time to settle in before winter. Typically fall can turn rainy, which is ideal for newly planted trees, shrubs and perennials to establish. Another perk of planting now is that there is still a good selection of plants to choose from at your local garden center. Late flowering perennials are ideal to add now to extend your garden blooms to the first frost.

To start building your butterfly garden you want to do research and find out what flowers butterflies are attracted to. Typically butterflies like sun loving plants. Find a location that receives an adequate amount of direct sunlight, 6 to 8 hours is ideal. Once that is established you can make your plant list. Butterflies not only love sunny plants but they are attracted to sweetly scented flowers in red, yellow, pink and purple. Flowers are usually flat topped or have clusters of tubular shaped flowers.

You want to have a good mix of host and nectar plants both annual and perennial. Host plants are important to include in the garden providing a place for butterflies to lay their eggs and caterpillars to feed on. Naturally different host plants attract different butterflies.

I recommend doing a little extra research if you are looking to attract a certain type of butterfly to your garden. Host plants like Asclepias tuberosa, Parsley, Queen Anne’s Lace, Fennel, Hollyhocks and Shasta Daises are a good place to start.

Nectar plants are equally important to provide food for the adult butterflies. Planting a wide variety of nectar plants will invite a wide range of butterflies. Native plants like Joe Pye Weed and Aster can serve as both host and nectar plant. Other popular native perennials are Coneflower, Phlox, Salvia, and Heliopsis False Sunflower. Butterfly Bush is a popular choice for butterfly gardens because of its sweet fragrance and abundant nectar, but is not native to North America. It originates from Asia and has been labeled by some to be an invasive weed.

A few design tips to consider when planting.

Create large masses of colors and flowers together in large areas. Butterflies tend to linger longer when there is a wide range of flowers and colors. Combine Ornamental grasses with flowering perennials and annuals. Varieties of Panicum virgatum, Switchgrass provide structure as well being a host plant for Skipper caterpillars. Add a water source and resting place in the garden. A shallow saucer filled with water and a few flat stones make inviting resting places for visiting butterflies. Refrain from using any pesticides in the garden and don’t worry about weeds. If you do not mind a wild looking garden keep weeds like thistle and clover around both are considered host plants as well.

Tina visits the Butterfly House with Jeff Clarke from the Camden Children’s Garden and they discuss their life cycle and what plants attract butterflies.

Butterflies, butterflies and more butterflies!

We can’t get enough of the beautiful and mysterious insects that dance in our gardens with their brightly colored wings. We watch intently to see how they feed from one flower to another as we snap an iphone photo for our Instagram page. Our social media feeds are filled with photos from friends and family who have captured them fluttering about.

This has become a common summer time activity, at least I know it has for my family and friends, including myself. But if you are not quick enough to snap a photo and want an up close and personal look at butterflies, head over to the Camden Children’s Garden in Camden, New Jersey, this weekend. They have a butterfly house you won’t want to miss.

The butterfly house is a greenhouse that is home to several species of primarily North American butterflies with up to a hundred butterflies flying around inside. It is a place where adults and children alike can interact with the butterflies. The house is filled with cut flowers from from the outdoor butterfly garden. Be prepared to have an intimate look at these creatures once you choose to pick up a flower from the Butterfly Bush. While I was there I became acquainted with a beautiful Monarch and a Pipevine Swallowtail.

The Pipeline Swallowtail is unique with it’s black body and shiny blue color with white spots on it’s wings. Its host plant is Dutchman’s Pipevine, that blooms in June producing plum speckled flowers in the shape of a pipe. It is tender vine in this region and generally overwintered indoors during the coldest month. Other species include the Zebra Longwing and White Peacock butterfly, just to name a few. The butterflies in the house are not harvested or caught from the wild, instead they are farm raised. The actual life cycle for the butterflies can be about ten days. Seven days is the usual life span in the wild, but in a controlled environment where they are safe from predatory insects the lifespan is a little longer.

The key to cultivating butterflies is to increase their habitat. Planting the proper host plants for them, like Asclepias for Monarchs can attract them to your garden. In fact, native Milkweed can be found growing wild throughout much of the gardens. It provides a place for the Monarch caterpillar to lay their eggs. Planting one or two different species is ideal when mixed with a few host plants to provide nectar for the adults to feed from.

The Butterfly house at the Camden Children’s Garden doesn’t disappoint. If you are unsure why everyone is fussing over an insect then take a trip to the gardens to see the beauty and joy they bring to children and even adults. You will also learn how to attract and keep butterflies for you to enjoy in your own garden. Who knows, you may even make a new colorful friend or two.